ELEX - Review @ RPG Codex

The RPG Codex has reviewed ELEX:

RPG Codex Review: ELEX!

Eclectic

Five long years have passed since Piranha Bytes had a collective bout of dementia and released the nightmare known as Risen 2. The release of Risen 3 two years later showed that the German developers were evidently rejecting their medication because the game turned out to be even worse than its prequel.

With such disasters under their belt, it would take only the greatest of madmen to await the release of their next game: ELEX. Especially since, to make matters even worse, ELEX just looked kind of stupid in the pre-release materials, like some crazy 80s action cartoon universe mashup, but still not corny enough for the style to seem as fun as that of the Wizardry or Might and Magic series.

Though you know what they say. Only the insane shall prosper.

[…]


ELEX!

Starting the game, I was dead sure that it would be horrible. Meanwhile I sunk into it for 85 long hours, which was only enough to complete one “full world lawnmowing” playthrough – save game counter tells me 70 hours, but I got an 80h playtime cheevo at 65, so I must have spent 15 idling and reloading (which sure is a lot of reloading). However, I also know that it took some folks just 20-something hours to breeze through it.

If I had to give you a short overall impression of ELEX, I would probably call it the same way one thread on our forums refers to Divine Divinity – it is probably the best shit game I’ve ever played. Sure, there are parts of it that are downright abysmal, broken or user-unfriendly. But at the same time, it is so incredibly addictive and fun that I don’t remember the last time a game sucked me in so completely for so long.

Perhaps a lot of it has to do with expectations and experience. I’ve witnessed the horrors of Risen 2 and 3 first-hand, so seeing the numerous improvements over these in ELEX was already a surprise for me, because ELEX is objectively an all-around better game than the both of those combined, which I suppose is at least one proven case of a developer being held back by an idiotic publisher. There is still a lot of room for improvement left to be sure, and I do hope Piranha Bytes do not waste the opportunity. If I had to give them at least one major piece of advice as to how ELEX 2 could be made better, it would definitely be to scale things down – reduce the world size, but improve its content. Gothic 3 was already an example of them overreaching, and ELEX in many ways repeats the same mistake.

Your very own expectations are also likely to influence how you will receive ELEX. If you are deluded enough to expect another Gothic, you might as well forget it. But if you still have that open world, no-nonsense PB game itch that needs scratching (and you know you do), ELEX might just be the thing you need. It looks dumb, it might be infuriating sometimes, but all I can say is: don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.

*Darth Roxor injects more ELEX into his eyeball*

More information.

""definitely be to scale things down – reduce the world size"" is indeed the only big downside for me as well.

I have had a lot of fun playing this game but i get it if people dont like it. The first few hours it is a rather difficult game.

It's not true that if you have less of X you'll get more or better Y. They might just suck at Y.

My advise to them would not be to scale down the game. After playing for 200 hours I feel the world just "seems" smaller than Gothic 3. They have the assets, just don't make the next game bigger for scale sake. But they definitely need to improve the content. And somehow make the factions not all seem so odious. And why not add a neutral option for a faction?

But I think my biggest quip is that the companions need to come more lively in the next game. I think they had maybe 5 comments that they used over and over again. And so far I think each one only has one unique comment when entering a peculiar situation.

Based on the team size and budget - I don't really think we can expect much more from PB in terms of "big features or changes".

Sure, personally, I think they screwed up the initial balance - and there's no doubt in my mind that they could appeal much wider without too much effort, but they're clearly not interested in that.

So, for what it is - it really is a very good PB game and I wouldn't want them to change much at all.

Though I still haven't it played it that much, I should probably add

I don't think the game world is too big at all. I didn't like that in Fallout: New Vegas, you could practically see from one settlement to the next. In Elex, you have to really hoof it a long way if you don't use teleporters. I like that sense of a truly large world.

I think there is a serious problem with the combat system. Too many enemies to fight at once with the lame amount of stamina. Using the jet pack to recharge is an obvious but cheesy tactic that leaves you at a tactical disadvantage. It just isn’t fun

Originally Posted by ToddMcF2002
I think there is a serious problem with the combat system. Too many enemies to fight at once with the lame amount of stamina. Using the jet pack to recharge is an obvious but cheesy tactic that leaves you at a tactical disadvantage. It just isn’t fun

The combat gets significantly better later in the game after you've gained some skills and more stamina. The problem is that the time investment might be too much for a lot of people. You gave up before you reached the point where combat starts to become more rewarding.

I think the Elex game world size is fine. I wouldn't say it is too big. Ignadon is pretty boring, though. So that's a waste of 1/4 of the game world right there.

My biggest gripe is the combat and early game balance. Like many other people, I hate it when I get locked on to an enemy or vector, but somehow I get turned around and all my attacks are in the wrong direction. It's hard to break the chain of attacks. Also, it seems impossible to turn around/change direction in place without taking one or several steps.

PB should have made combat slightly easier in the beginning. I'm near the end of the game, and it feels good to be so powerful now, I guess. But the good feeling does not outweigh the frustration from early on.

You just need to play clever.
I managed to join the berserkers without investing a single learning point into melee/ranged combat and with very little fighting overall. You can do this by doing some fetch quests and aquiring the first companion (Duras) who will help you fighting and doesn't need any rosurces. There was one fight where I needed to defeat an NPC without my companion helping. Here I used the alb spell "scrolls" which are quite powerful in early game.
And you need to run a lot. Fly, you fools!

Then I got magic and combat became a lot easier.

I’ll be back after I finish Wild Hunt. I do wish the combat felt better. Anyone who has played Witcher 2 knows what great combat is. Elex is similar sans jet pack but completely pales in comparison. Given the amount of combat in the game it should be their #1 area of focus for improvement

I must be a masochist because I loved the beginning of the game. When I became all powerful around chapter 4 I started to lose interest a bit. I enjoyed the game at the end but I really loved the game early on.

Elex is DarkSouls haters' paradise.

Elex is life.

Originally Posted by ToddMcF2002
I’ll be back after I finish Wild Hunt. I do wish the combat felt better. Anyone who has played Witcher 2 knows what great combat is. Elex is similar sans jet pack but completely pales in comparison. Given the amount of combat in the game it should be their #1 area of focus for improvement

Imho melee combat in Elex is hardly playable.
Magic is ok but lacks variety. Berserkers Fireball and especially clerics Black Hole is powerful enough you won't need anything else. I'd like to have seen some cloud control. Imho it would have been quite easy to have some freeze effect on the berserkers ice spells. That would have been reason to actually switch spells. Alas switching spells is quite cumbersome with the current UI…

Originally Posted by ToddMcF2002
I’ll be back after I finish Wild Hunt. I do wish the combat felt better. Anyone who has played Witcher 2 knows what great combat is. Elex is similar sans jet pack but completely pales in comparison. Given the amount of combat in the game it should be their #1 area of focus for improvement

Yeah, I agree with that. They're each stronger in different categories though. While The Witcher games have better combat (and obviously much better writing), Elex blows them away when it comes to exploration.

Originally Posted by joxer
Elex is DarkSouls haters' paradise.

Elex is life.

I like both, how about that?!